Clef Notes

I ,myself, will be plucking a few titles from Paul Murphy's site!

Headed to civilization for a few days and plan to hit a real book store.

Back in time for the fireworks....we have really good ones here at various venues and can see several shows at the time from vantage points on the Bay.

Happy 4th of july.

G-d bless America! 

currently looking for new reads, so i'll be taking notes myself today.....
 
good morning eyesters.!

see if you see yourself in this roman a clef, of cosmic turning........
 
 
"If life, work and relationships have a surprising, surreal, shocking and
topsy-turvy feeling, chalk it up to Uranus stopping at 27 degrees of Pisces and
beginning a five-month retrograde cycle (12:38AM PDT). [Uranus will remain in
reverse until December 1 when it makes its next direct station at 23 degrees of
Pisces.] Uncertainty is in the catbird seat for at least the next 24 hours and
possibly longer. Tap into your intuition, but be very leery when it comes to
signings and making long-term commitments. Amplifying this message is the
intensity of the Moon in Scorpio and the stunning fact that Venus is making four
major alignments (three which are rather caustic) while Mercury is making five
major alignments (one which is very abrasive - a sharp square to Uranus itself
at 7:14PM PDT). Venusian challenges pop up at 2:43AM PDT during a square to
wounded healing agent Chiron, at 1:01PM PDT via a square to far-out Neptune, and
at 9:25PM PDT when Venus squares giant Jupiter. Be more reserved and
conservative in love and money matters around these times. A Venus-Uranus
supportive, 60-degree tie at 10:43PM PDT may open the door to breakthroughs in
the fine or graphic arts, and in social and cultural affairs. Mercury flowing
trines to Chiron (7:57AM PDT), Neptune (1:49PM PDT) and Jupiter (6:35PM PDT) can
constitute mental dazzlers and communication-enhancers. Plus - the forces of
enlightenment are on the march - courtesy of a Sun-Mercury parallel at 6:27PM
PDT. This is one of the more potent days of the year. Make sure you use it to
your advantage."

Oh, geez... peoples' eyes always glaze over when I tell them what I read.... mostly non-fiction.  I recently gifted a copy of Benoit Mandelbrot's 'The Fractal Geometry of Nature' to an old high school friend whose hobby is doing mathematical proofs, finding errata in physics books, and so on.  (He's a nuclear safety engineer). 

I find my 'narrative kicks' in relationships, not books.... and my favorite place to have 'safe' relationships is in the anonymous online world called 'Second Life' (a truer description could never have been wished on it!)  Most fiction seems so unlike real people and real events, first because of the space and time constraints attendant, but also because novels have a structure (dictated by both custom and form) that squeezes the improbable twists and turns of life into a dead corpse called 'narrative'.

If I were ever to write the truth about the people I've known, the things I (and/or) we have done or seen, no one would accept it as a publishable work.  First it would be unbelievable.  Second, it would be disjointed, with sudden unexplained leaps and long boring parts.  Third, it would be full of lacuna (why the heck did she do THAT?  DUNNO...).  And fourth --- and this would be the real killer -- 'so why should I care?'   

I think the best stories are the ones our various selves tell each other in the confines of our own heads.... we make them up to amuse and entertain ourselves, and we don't give a damn if they 'would sell' in any monetary marketplace....  From time to time, we might share a short clip from the movie of our minds, editing it for the audience, and dropping it on them in the hope one or another might find it amusing.... but not especially surprised if the reaction turns out to be, 'HUH????'  And so it goes....

 ROSEBUD. it ain't just the sled, y'all.

I read a sign in a bar, a quote,really,from a very famous quotable author: "I drink to make other people interesting". It has served me well for many years, and made many people interesting on levels that were only available behind my eyelids.I love to read anything science. I am also just into the Post American World, by Fareed Zakaria. In paperback. Hopefully on my back, in the hammock, in the screen room, by the RoadYacht,just south of the Madeline Islands in the North Woods area. Where they make the BEST BloodyMarys,with a shrimp,sausage,olive,capers,pickle,cheese,and of course celery.And a snood.

Non fiction always wins hands down because no one can make such wild stuf up. Midnight in the garden of good and evilNinty mineuts at entebya man called intrepidin cold bloodthe arms of krupp 

We are headed to the beach in a week and I will be taking Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner with me.  My friends from the book club just finished it for their June review and told me it is a must read! 

I've just started Tony Ballantyne's "Divergence" after being very impressed by his previous book "Capacity" which I picked up on a whim.

Racingyogagirl, Stegner?  Excellent choice, started on his stuff after reading Big Rock Candy Mountain in a Utah history class in school.

The folks in Columbia are awfully pleased to have Elise Blackwell on the faculty at USC, with good reason. She has written three very different books, any one of which would be great to enhance one's afternoon or weekend, or vacation: 
http://eliseblackwell.com/
 
I particularly enjoyed GRUB.
 
Have we talked about THEFT, A LOVE STORY? Peter Carey's work is a great one about art and artistes.

 roadyacht,

Thanks for the avatar. Everything now makes sense.

"South of Madeline," is not particularly specific- everything is. But if I were to find myself in Bayfield, I would forego the five course Rittenhouse dinner in favor of a whitefish liver appetizer and salmon with penne at Maggie's. They have had as well a house micro-brew that goes down nicely.

So remeber back about 6 months ago how we were all discussing Epics & I stated well now that I have no job I have the time to read them.. Well it's been 6 months I just realized & I haven't even started them yet let alone bought copies of them. So they have now been moved to the top of my reading list ~ I SWEAR they have Really... They have been.. 
 
I haven't read too much I have droppe out of my bookclubs for various reasons & I haven't really found anything that ahs caught my attention in the last month. In April I finished the book about the girl who was brought up in the Warren Jeffries "franchise" that scared the heck out of me. It was written quite well I thought.  
 
I also just finished reading the manuscript of my friend Michelle Vogels Biography on the silent screen actress Olive Borden ~ she sent it to me over e-mail ~ Michelle has written & published about quite a few classic atresses & actors so it was a real privilage to be able to read the Bio part of her newest book before it even gets published for selling.  I know have to locate some of Olives films to watch. 
 
I promise tomorrow I'm off to find the Ancient Epics & anything else that seems like a great A Clef reading material.. hmm maybe I should also pick up & read Valley of the Dolls...        

Fiction has to make sense anyway. Unlike nonfiction.

Stoney ~ I LOVE MAGGIES ~ Looks like I amy have to take a trip WAY up North this summer..  

Anything by Martin Amis.
Anything by James Hamilton-Paterson.
Anything by Gary Shteyngart.
Anything by CHristopher Hitchens.

Tom's burned out bar.            Now there is a storied place, on Madeline Island.           Art abounds,in the field across the street,behind the sign for the bus to"The World's Largest Indoor Mall". ...It's on an Island.    Great music,sometimes. Greatfireplaces,sometimes. Great place,always.

I'm sorry, did I turn some's thoughts away from lit.?

And another 'random thought'; the digital TV revolution will definately bring reading back.   The old analog system could be snowey,and hard to watch, but you didn't miss much....the digital "freezes,pixilates,and blanks",and of course,then you have to make up your own dialog,and close your eyes to imagine what you should have seen,had it not been digitized.

At  this  point  in  my  life,   I  find  that  I  simply  have  no  discretionary  time  to  seek  out  the  latest  novel  that  fits  this  profile,  and  then  agonize  with  others  about  who  the  REAL  protagonist  happens  to  be.  But  some  books  stand  alone  as  fascinating  reading,  independent  of  any  trendy  speculation  by  the  author's  groupies.  

For my money, you can't get much better summer reading material than the fun British series about Charlie Mordecai written by Kyril Bonfiglioli. With a name like that, you know it will be interesting. Scroundrels, crime, and delicious Brit humor abound.

roady...How we missed this I don't know, but we did: 

In Lake Superior  --  On Madeline Island                                                                DRAFT 7/14/2006 1 Leona’s Plaza, P.O. Box 222,  LaPointe, WI  54850

TOM’S BURNED DOWN CAFÉ T.M.

Home of : Middle Road Literary/Arts Society, Inc., The
Phoenix Gallery & LIVEART! Workshop, Inc.

http://www.tomsburneddowncafe.com  715.747.6100;  Fax)715/747-6101  
phoenix@cheqnet.net

It’s not just a Café and an Art Gallery in a Bar, it’s an
Adventure!

***********************************************************************************************************

THE CARNAGIE HALL OF JUNKYARDS

Re-Defining Classic Elegance Since 1992

************************************************************************************************************

2006   
TENT-ERTAINMENT  SCHEDULE   2006

**HOT TUNES, FAST EATS, GOOD LIQUOR & CHEAP FINE
WINES**

******************************************************************************************

FULL LIQUOR  BAR EVERYDAY -10 AM  till Labor Day (Mon & Tues = iffy) then just nice days
through  Oct 18ish - UWS*                You won’t believe what we’ve done with the place!

*********************************************************************************************************************************

Sat Evening July 15 –   DEJA BLEU      --     Chris, Spencer
& David bring us the BLUES

Wed Eve July 19
& Tues Eve July 25  - Cedric & Albert  “SPIN REGGAE” -  August dates TBA

July 20 thru July 29 - LIVEART! Workshop,
Inc. presents– the ENTIRELY NEW & DIFFERENT only with the same name: 14th
or 15th annual -“Sculptors
Wrestle Steel”  Come watch
UN-INVITED sculptors and the “DARK ARTS
FORGE”  wrestling in their natural
habitat, “Tom’s junk piles”. Most of the regular sculptors will be told the
event has been delayed one year because our
NEW SECRET UNDISCLOSED LOCATION will not be ready til next year, 2007.  However some artists will not get their
e-mail or check their mail or are already on their way.  We have enough room for that many Sculptors
and that many only.  Not All events will
be Free and NOT ALL EVENTS will be Open To The Public as a spectator sport
(LIVEART!). 

Saturday Evening July 29 @ 6-9PM
“Sculptors Wrestle Steel”
Reception for Artists & Viewing of
Finished Works @ Tom’s BDC’ ($10 suggested donation.

Thursday Evening July
20  -- 
OPEN STAGE   --  Hosted by: Tim Montagne -- Bring your ax at
8PM  --

Fri Evening July 21  -- Jim & Jane w/ Prudence Johnson

Sat
Afternoon July 22  Jim & Jane

Sat Evening July 22  Al Radley & Friends - Music that will change the world.

Wed Eve July
26  -- 
THE CRONICALLY WASTED BAND

Thursday Evenings July
27th & August 3rd 
--  OPEN STAGE  -- 
Hosted by Barbara With  -- Bring
your ax at 8PM  --

Fri & Sat Eve 7/28 & 29  Eddie Jeff Cahill & his Cousin  – traveling
troubadour w/stories extraordinaire.

Sat
AFTERNOON July 29  --  Sasha Mercedes w/Marky “Baby” Rosso  --  www.sashamercedes.com 

Fri Eve August 4  -- 
Barbara With and some friends

Sat Aftn
August  5  --  TBA   &  
Sat Eve August  5 
--   TBA

Sun Aftn Aug 6 - 4 til 9pm -The Stearns
County PACHANGA Society-BIG OUTDOOR DANCE PARTY!

**WE CHEAT THE OTHER GUY & PASS THE SAVINGS ON TO
YOU**

2006   --  
Tom’s Burned Down Café TM   --  
2006

The Second THURSDAY of
every August  --  All Afternoon:  Don’t miss the CHURCH 
BAZZARE

Thursday Evenings
August  10, 17, 24, 31st   -- 
OPEN STAGE w/____TBA_______  -- Bring your ax at 8PM  --

Fri Eve Aug 11  --  JOE PRICE  -- 
blurb here

Sat Aftn Aug 12
–

Sat Eve Aug 12  --  Jon Olson & Bill
Patten  --  wondrous guitar duo w/one drunken lawyer

Fri & Sat Eves August 18 & 19 -
Dick Solberg “The Sun Mountain Fiddler”& the Sun Mountain Band – via New York and the Caribbean...   Returning for their fifteenth season. This is a great band.  They may be doing their last sets
totally unplugged  --  www.sunmountainfiddler.com  

Sunday 
Afternoon  August  20 
--  Pablo Prosper   with Roots & Reality   = 
“REGGAE”  --  4 
til 9 PM

--  !!!! 
BIG  OUTDOOR  REGGAE 
DANCE  PARTY  !!!! 
--

Fri & Sat Evenings August 25& 26
- “SPIDER” JOHN KOERNER  http://www.mwt.net/~koerner/ ;
Traditional American folk and country blues musician,
rhythmic guitarist, song-crafter, singer, and humorist. We
built the Burned Down Cafe’ for these shows!   
“THE PINES”  (names here) will open for John @ 8PM and also give us a closing set
for both these exceptional shows.

Sat or Sun Aftn Aug 26 or 27  -- 
TBA  --  Did someone say:    “THE
DITCH SURF WAS UP?”

Fri Evening & Sat Aftn Sept 1 &
2  -- 
Jim & Jane

Sat & Sun Eves Sept 2 & 3  -- TOM DAHILL w/ a few friends  -  A bit dodgey but good craic! www.stpaulirishdancers.com/tom_dahill.html           It’s Tom’s Birthday 9/3

Sunday Afternoon September 3 
--  TBA  --  Did someone say:   “THE DITCH SURF WAS UP?”

On the nice weekend nights from here to
about Oct 15th  we will still
have LIVE MUSIC/TBA

Sept 7 FULL MOON

Fri & Sat Evenings September 8 & 9  --  
Greg Hodapp is booked in ink

Fri & Sat Evenings October 6 & 7
(APPLE FIGHT WEEKEND)

MORE BAND DATES TBA as the BDC gets more
organized with every flashing millisecond

We
do private parties, wedding parties, solstice parties, divorce parties and more.  Just call TOM.  I'm sure we can work something out.  If your group wants to use THIS ART SPACE for an art event
whether it's for a performance a show an exhibit or to host an art workshop or
a benefit for a worthy cause please call TOM and get your event onto our
schedule. All shows UWS (unless the weather sucks) Count on it --- Look for our
li’l posters for full details  PS: If
you are of delicate sensibilities, pretend that we didn’t say “unless the
weather sucks”

No
serious tourist should be able to sleep at night till they have drunk in the
BEAUTY of Tom’s Burned Down, Blown Down, Grudge Mongered, Train Wrecked, Froze
Out, Insurance Challenged, Foreclosed, Zoning Challenged, Highway Encroached,
Bankrupted, Financially Examined, Shut Down, Banned in LaPointe, Third World,
Trucked In, Up next to the Wormhole, Beyond Thunderdome, Death Row, Duct Taped,
Water World, Tree Fort, Pirate House, Pan Handled, Lost & Found, Noise
Rattled, Noise Ordained, Ferry Grudged, Tent Shredded,  Anti – “MADELINE ISLAND FERRY LAND”,  Phoenix CAFE’ of Love,  where Ambiance is only one of our middle
names.  Truly, the Carnagie Hall of
JUNKYARDS.  Where it’s just a short walk
from the sublime to the ridiculous & the Art ain’t always Pretty.  Most shows have a cover charge ($2 - $3 - $5
- $6 - $10) the rest of the shows musicians are working for tips so if you fear
change.........

TOM’S
BURNED DOWN CAFE’ & LIVE ART! Workshops are registered trademarks of Middle
Road Literary/Arts Society, Inc.

**WE CHEAT THE OTHER GUY & PASS THE SAVINGS ON TO
YOU**

2006   --  
Tom’s Burned Down Café TM   --  
2006

Also
the Home of:   LIVEART! Workshop, Inc. –
An IRS 501(C)3 Non-Profit Organization - #17053068011024  www.artlive.net 

 If I had that to do over, I might have gone with a link.

audio books are great!!!!

they can be fed thru the gps....

 Just finished "What Went Wrong" by Bernard Lewis. Not my usual sort of thing but very informative.

Starting: "The Tao of Natural Breathing," by Dennis Lewis. A gift book, it sounds intriguing if only to discover what other kind there is.

If you have something else by a guy named Lewis, please don't...

cuukoo1,

"Audio books," ~ anything by Calvin Trillin. Make that; everything.

Stoney, if there were a medal for longest post I think you would have just earned it, I am impressed.

The parents and siblings are leaving this Friday on a 12 day road trip from Utah to Seattle (where one brother lives now) and then down the coast to Oregon.  I was helping my little sister check out audiobooks online from our local library, this is the "reading list" for her minivan occupants...
 
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Tom Sawyer
5 Little Peppers and How They Grew
The Boxcar Children
The Hiding Place
Swiss Family Robinson
 
Anytime in the next day or two the downloading should be finished...

 I can't help it. Somebody mentioned British humor:

“If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he next comes to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination”

 Thomas De Quincey quote

And then polotics?!?

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyKEcjo_MXI&feature=related

As a man who too often would be content to spend every alive and awake moment aboard an imaginary train that goes both nowhere and everywhere and time has two extra gears that allow you to travel either in the past or the future and in doing so would still spend a majority of his time with his nose in a book; well let's just say I have passion for reading, an addiction to fiction that almost always trumps my deep respect for non-fiction. Yes, I've got a problem that I can live with. 

The fact that my "EyE's" moniker is derived from my favorite character from my favorite book should offer another significant clue to that effect.

That said, I will attempt, probably in vain, to keep this short so that you will not need a rest stop before I get to the end, ... I'll have more time to peruse your suggested readings, and most importantly..... I can get back to my book.

I enjoy almost all manner of fiction. If I have a preference I would have to say that I like my fiction the same way I like my trains. Sepia toned.

Some books I have recently enjoyed:

‘Bruno Chief of Police' by Martin Walker - a mystery that takes place in a quaint, old village in France but is solved by looking into the past.

‘Fool' by Christopher Moore - hilarious and very bawdy rewrite of King Lear

‘The Secret Speech' and ‘Child 44' by Tom Rob Smith - mysteries set in post-Stalin USSR

‘City of Thieves' by David Benioff - http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay

/0,,9780670018703,00.html

‘The Given Day' - Dennis Lehane - http://www.dennislehanebooks.com/books/givenday/

The Monsters of Templton by Lauren Groff ..... richly written
http://www.laurengroff.com/?display=monsters

The books I'm currently enjoying:

‘The Selected Works of T.S.Spivet' by Reif Larson - This is a book so rich in language and character that I can only allow myself to read it in small chunks so I can let it roll around in my mind as I would dark, rich chocolate in my mouth in order to enjoy and appreciate every bite. I know I'll be sad when there are no more pages left to turn.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104820541

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/books/review/Bellafante-t.html

‘The Angel's Game' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780385528702.html

‘Delicate Edible Birds' - Lauren Groff - http://www.laurengroff.com/?display=birds

Anyroads, these books are my recent best experiences. If you read them, I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I did.

I'm looking forward to discovering your favorite titles to add to my list.

Peace out.....

I loves Tuesdays 'cos that's when the newly published books are released.  I also have developed an enourmous appreciation for my Portable Reading System that allows me to download them in seconds. ....... What a country!

no downloading neccessary when listening over the gps, just feeds directly from their site.....!!!!! very nifty gadgets they're making lately.

But you must have a realllllly rich imagination to conjure the essence of a well written cookbook. Jennifer 8 Lee, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. Yes, her middle name is the number eight .

It starts as almost a mystery,and turns to a quest,answering along the way some intriguing questions. Was there a General Tao? And did he make chicken?     Good book, great summer read,and leaves you wanting more in 45 minutes....

i do love my hard copies, but do so enjoy the audio's too.  it's like my momma reading to me, reminds me of sitting and listening, quitely and intently to her read stories.  my grandson, 3, already has a love for books, and loves to be read to also, even if it's just the newspaper. the cadence, and flow create a tonality, that (i think) brings a story to life, and i carried that tonality through to reading, as i hope he will too.

totally off topic, sorta, but not, there is nothing quite like a man reading a book of poetry, or for that matter anything to you, with intent.   hmmmmmmm....drifting...to the reading car....oh my

Like some fellow from Arkansas with LEAVES OF GRASS? Cuuckoo, I expect you are made of sterner stuff than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beaj4d_JW8c

mush mellon hopeless romantic homebody, i am.
 
 i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings
 
 

What I found humorous when I was writing:  the people in my life were just positively undone at the prospect of being in my manuscript -- worried that I'd based a character on them and or their deeds (or misdeeds).  Afterwards, or during, if I allowed anyone a peek at the manuscript, they were positively undone and insulted no less, when they found they weren't in the novel.  That there was not one character who resembled them in the least.  I had to laugh:  human beings have such a love-hate-love relationship with their own egos.

It doesn't have a plot but I'm currently working my way through this book...
 
http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Places-Lifetime-Peaceful-Destinations/dp/1426203365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246491413&sr=8-1
 
I'll admit it, some days I just look at the pictures!

Having an unplanned extended vacation coming up I am reading titles and authors intently.  But I have to make it through Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, John Maynard Keynes and the horse handicapping books on shelves first and then build more shelves.  If the handicapping books payoff I'll head to saratoga but thinking it may be more fun at the Burned Down Cafe.

 Never in its millions of miles of rocking to the rythmn of the rails, has a single Waterford Huntley whiskey tumbler or toasting flute been lost to breakage aboard the club car at the end (or is it the beginning?) of the Sepiatrain.

The Sepia never lurches and its passengers never fumble preferring simply to doze in her rich deep dark green leather seating softly mumbling: "Take me home."

And so it was that as we arrived in the shade of our cottonwoods the hand written manuscript of "The Death Of The Hired Man," lying loosely atop the lap throw that had been tucked around me, that I thought to add but one small item to Peter Lake's admirable detailing of Sepia's magical qualities:

If you surrender sufficiently to her soft cadence and quiet pace, she will permit you to nap backwards and relive those moments that you have always wished to do over before drawing up to your gate where it will come clear that it was really all right in the first place.

unhinged,

Yay! and welcome back. Been wondering about you, Hope all is well.

Stoney






 

So many books, so little time.  I do love to read and have , lately, read quite a few really good books.  I've found on the Barnes and Noble website, that their recommendations are really, really very good.  I follow a list of writers that keeps growing and always have a stack of books ready to read.  Once, when asked what was his favorite thing about the wealth he has accumulated, Charles Schultz answered, the ability to buy hard backed books.  I understood completely.......or is it just that I like to buy things I don't have to try on?

Though I have not read Advise and Consent, Otto Preminger's 1962 movie of it is one of my very favorites.  Is Lafe Smith Kennedy?  Well it was pretty apropos casting to have Peter Lawford play the part.
 
Notably, Seab Cooley was played by the late great Charles Laughton in his final performance.  Laughton would have been 110 today!
 
As for Summer reading, I just finished Conan Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and am about halfway through Rand's We the Living.  I have Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge on deck.  So yeah, I voted for Classics in the poll.

Summertime reading...

Lucretius - The Nature of the Universe

PB Shelley - Epipsychidion
(Anyone that thinks about love on a regular basis should read Epipsychidion - perhaps the best lyrical exposition of what love is and what the ideal of it may well be; but curiously, it is important to note that Shelley wrote this to one of his whimsical loves...more of a dalliance.

And Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe, for the dialog, and just to mix it up.

Penn, there is a fine series-detective series by Phillip DePoy, of Georgia, featuring a guy named Flap Tucker and his girlfriend Dalliance Oglethorpe. He detects, she owns a bar.